Electronic finding aid was encoded in EAD 2002 by Michael D. Montalbano in July 3, 2009. Description is in English.

This collection documents the activities, administrative, planning, proceedings,
and correspondence of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council from
its founding in 1944 to 1994. The collection includes correspondence, programs,
minutes, proposals, reports, clippings, press releases, and publications.

The National Community Relations Advisory Council (NCRAC) was founded on March 19,
1944 by the Council of Jewish Federations for the purpose of improving and
safe-guarding Jewish communities in the United States from anti-Semitism at home and
abroad, pursuing and nurturing the ideals of democratic pluralism found in the Bill
of Rights, and fostering American support for Israel. In order to achieve their
goals the organization committed itself to the ideals of equality, freedom, justice,
and opportunity. Seeking to defend Jewish communities from anti-Semitism they sought
to establish dialogue with other ethnic, religious, and cultural groups. They argued
that by ensuring and developing mutual respect across many diverse groups each would
be allowed to develop freely while participating fully within the broader society of
the United States. They also believed that by being active members in their
non-Jewish communities and advocating for ideals mentioned above they were upholding
the tenets of Judaism and maintaining Jewish tradition. That only by adhering to
such principles Jews and other groups could peacefully coexist.

At the inaugural Plenary Session held on September 9, 1944 at the Hotel
Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, the representatives of various local and national
Jewish organizations established as the aims and objectives of the NCRAC:

1. To study, analyze, and evaluate the policies and activities of the national
and local agencies.

2. To ascertain the problem areas from time to time.

3. To ascertain the areas of activities of these organizations and to conduct
a continuous inventory of their projects.

4. To serve as a co-ordinating and clearance agency for projects and policies,
to eliminate duplication and conflict of activities, and to recommend further
projects to member agencies.

5. To seek agreement on and formulate policies. Policies once formulated and
adopted, it is expected that the affiliated organizations will adhere to such
policies and will not engage in any activities in contravention of such
policies.

Initial committees included Membership, Public Relations, Interfaith Relations, and
Legislation. At the conclusion of the session Executive Director Isaiah Minkoff
regarding the mission of the NCRAC was “to make a constant evaluation of the
soundness of our main approaches to the problem of anti-Semitism. How successful are
our methods? Are we jumping form one incident to another without keeping the
over-all picture in sight? Are we concentrating on the real areas of danger? Such
constant evaluation can best be achieved by a body like the NCRAC. Of course every
defense agency does some self-questioning, but it is clear that there is great
advantage in a central organization which had the benefit of the experience of all
the agencies in the field and can approach the problem with a broader perspective.”

The Council itself is currently comprised of independent community councils from across the
nation. These councils convene annually as a legislative body, known as the Plenum.
At these plenary sessions issues are debated and policies created in order to
provide organized action by the various community councils across the country.
Additionally, there are numerous committees and task forces that specifically
address areas of concern for the Jewish community in particular, and the greater
community at large.

In the 1960s the organization was renamed the National Jewish Community Relations
Advisory Council (NJCRAC). In 1997 the name changed once more to the Jewish Council
for Public Affairs.

This collection consists of memoranda, meeting minutes, general mailings, conference
programs, transcribed speeches, and other material related to the administrative
actions of the NCRAC and NJCRAC its plenary sessions, committees, activities, task
forces, correspondence, and publications.

The collection is arranged in seven series, Series II has two sub-series and Series IV
has three sub-series. All series are arranged in alphabetical order and then in chronological order.

The organizational structure of this collection seeks to balance the original order of
the material and make it easily adaptable to the acquisition of future accessions from the NJCRAC,
and its descendent organizations, to be integrated into it. As a result the folder titles represent
a hybridization of the original folder title and the new organizational schema.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Director of Collections and Engagement of the American Jewish Historical Society,
except items that are restricted due to their fragility.

Use Restrictions

The collection is open to all researchers by permission of the Executive Director of the American Jewish Historical Society, except items
that are restricted due to their fragility. For more information, contact:
American Jewish Historical Society, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY, 10011
email: reference@ajhs.org

Material related to the records of the National Jewish Community Relations Council can be found at the Center
for Jewish History and in the collections of other Jewish social organizations. The Center for Jewish History
has a number of archival collections and publications by the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish
Congress, and the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Additionally, the records of the American
Jewish Committee are located at the
AJC Information Center and Digital Archives in New York. The records of the American Jewish Congress
are located at the Judah L. Magnes Museum’s
Western Jewish History Center in Berkley, California.

There are a number of publications and
reports in the Center of Jewish History’s collection that might prove helpful. Many of these are the
publications of the NJCRAC or the constituent organizations that comprised the council. Of particular
interest is Toward more creative Jewish living in a free plural society
by former NJCRAC chairman Jordan C. Band which can be found in the YIVO collection.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:Identification of item, date (if known);
National Jewish
Community Relations Advisory Council Records;
I-172; box number; folder number; American Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY.

Collection is compiled from three accessions. The first was on Decmeber 19, 1978 by Lily Silbert, NCRACR Office Supervisor.
This accession consisted of sixteen cartons. The second accession was on October 27, 1981 from Robert Segal, Executive Director of
the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Boston of an unspecified number of boxes. The third accession came on March 31, 1995 from NJCRAC
Executive Director, Jordan Band, of nine cartons.

Arrangement:

This series is arranged in alphabetical and chronological order.

Scope and Content:

This series documents the general administrative operations of the NJCRAC. This series contains material related to the administrative functions of the organization, its founding, finances, membership efforts, and staffing.

Arrangement:

Scope and Content:

This series document the various conferences held by the NJCRAC from 1944 to 1994. It has been separated
into three separate series. Sub-series 1 contains material produced during the Joint Committee Conferences
from 1948-1994. Sub-series 2 contains material produced during the annual Plenary Sessions of the NJCRAC
from 1944-1994. And finally sub-series 3 contains material from other conferences. These other conferences
were either held in conjunction with other organizations or to strategize on critical topics important to
the NJCRAC.

Arrangement:

This subseries is arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This subseries documents the Joint Program Plans of the NJCRAC. The Joint Program Plan is
the product of the joint planning sessions of the various committees. The NJCRAC committees were mandated
to meet annually to strategize in a systematic process the organization would proceed. Such a strategy
would mean prioritizing the various concerns of each member organization into a cohesive plan.
These plans are the bulk of this subseries.

Arrangement:

This subseries is arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

These subseries documents the conferences held by the NJCRAC either in conjunction
with affiliated organizations or to address specific critical issues relating to the mission of
the NJCRAC in particular and American Jewry in general. The bulk of this subseries consists of
reports, meeting minutes, and addresses from 1946 to 1981.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

22

5

American Jewish Committee (AJC) - Executive Council Meeting

1973

22

6

American Jewish Committee (AJC) - Annual Meeting

1974

22

7

Conference on the Census

1967

22

8

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (1 of 3)

1967

22

9

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (2 of 3)

1967

22

10

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (3 of 3)

1967

22

11

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (1 of 2)

1968

22

12

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (2 of 2)

1968

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

23

1

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (1 of 4)

1969

23

2

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (2 of 4)

1969

23

3

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (3 of 4)

1969

23

4

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (4 of 4)

1969

23

5

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (1 of 2)

1973

23

6

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly (2 of 2)

1973

23

7

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly

1977

23

8

Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF) - General Assembly - Reports

Arrangement:

This series is arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series documents the planning and actions of various committees and commissions that carried out the
agenda of the Council is the bulk of the collection. These include the work of the Executive,
Legislative, and Finance committees working on the operational aspects of the NJCRAC, and the
thematic committees that worked on such issues as Anti-Semitism, Civil Liberties/Rights,
Discrimination in Education, Housing and Work, to name but a few. The items in this series
range from correspondence to memoranda, from publications to reports and meeting minutes and
date from 1944 to 1985.

Box

Folder

Title

Date

Request

24

11

Ad Hoc Committee to Consider Levittown and American Bowling Congress (1 of 2)

1949-1950

24

12

Ad Hoc Committee to Consider Levittown and American Bowling Congress (2 of 2)

Arrangement:

This series is arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series documents the activities of NJCRAC committees in greater detail and specificity
than the series on Committees. For instance, while the series on Committees might document
the actions concerning Humane Slaughtering of livestock for consumption, this series provides
documentation into specific applications of those plans, such as Humane Slaughtering in Missouri.
While the two series are similar and in many instances overlap there are subtle differences that
determined their separation into two distinct series. This decision was made prior to the current
organization.

Of particular interest is the draft report produced by the American Jewish Committee and the
Anti-Defamation League on effectively organizing Jewish communtiy work. The report is chaptered
using Roman numerals as labeled in the folder title. These chapters in draft form can be found in folders 4 thru 27.

Arrangement:

This series is arranged alphabetically and chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This series documents the activities of specially created task forces that
dealt with critical issues of importance to the NJCRAC. These are the Energy Task Force,
created to handle the Oil Crisis of the 1970s, and the Israel Task Force, created to handle
the threats faced by Israel from Arab nations and Terrorist Organizations throughout the 1970s.

Arrangement:

This series is arranged alphabetically. The
organization of this series has been created from the unorganized
contents of a single folder to ease access.

Scope and Content:

This series contains an assortment of papers received
as a single folder. Due to the unorganized nature of the folder and
uncertainty of its relation with other material found within the collection
it was deemed appropriate to form a separate series. This material includes
a variety material believed to be correspondence, meetings minutes, memoranda,
press releases, publications, reports, and resolutions dating from 1956-1963.